300 With M90, 240 Axle. Has it been done ?

[Steve940estate]

I was chatting to a guy who owns a Volvo garage and he was saying he always wanted to build a 2.3 turbo 300 of some sort.

It got me thinking and I wondered if anyone had fotted a normal RWD gearbox up behind the engine and fitted an axle off of something else or something like a Sierra diff instead of the combined gearbox diff.

I seem to remember seeing one somewhere, maybe PPC magazine a long while ago.

Just curious really as it would be one way to address the slightly fragile propshaft gearbox problems you can get with higher power outputs. Not so sure a proper live axle would help the handling, might make it slide better though !

[davebslater(uk)]

yes , in sweden.....

[Steve940estate]

I think this is the one I was thinking about, not sure if the axle got changed to the sierra one.

http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=137682&page=3

[macplaxton]

Originally Posted by Steve940estate

It got me thinking and I wondered if anyone had fotted a normal RWD gearbox up behind the engine and fitted an axle off of something else

Hollow something out enough and anything can get plonked in....

....http://www.driftworks.com/forum/drif...eadlights.html

...but then you don't have much of a 300 left, so is it a 300 any more? :shrug:

[Steve940estate]

I understand what you are saying a lot seem to end up being used for drifting etc, not into that personally.
I was just thinking about how the car could have ended up if Volvo had taken a different route with it's development.
It would be nice to use all Volvo parts, perhaps a 960 diff could be used.

Did Volvo build anything similar as a prototype ?

[Magnumpi]

But why would you want to as with the stock setup they are near enough 50/50 weight distribution. There is a metalic/flip purple one in Europe with Porsche transaxle setup.

[davebslater(uk)]

rallycross car in volvo museum , uses a getrag at the back....

[macplaxton]

Originally Posted by Steve940estate

It would be nice to use all Volvo parts, perhaps a 960 diff could be used.

Then again, it's a Volvo-ised DAF P900.

Start off with a Renault motor up front. Add a one piece prop with bonded rubber inserts either end. Stick a Variomatic assembly in the back.

Later decide to plonk a manual in and it's probably easier to substitute something else into the massive space under the rear, than it is to re-design and re-press a bulkhead and floorpan.

Decide to stick a redblock up front and it's again best to leave the shell mostly alone (but re-press the boot floor for a wheel well) and leave the box at the back. Throw out the bonded prop and fit a torque tube instead.

Whilst the 340 and 360 have the bits in the same place, the drivelines between the engine and box are differently engineered. So I'm wondering if the 340 is the source of the "slightly fragile propshaft gearbox problems" in your mind?

For any box to go behind the engine needs room. So it needs some surgery. Not many other cars I can think of with the box at the rear (two that leap to my mind are a Porker and an Alfa.)

[Steve940estate]

Ok, I was just interested, I will stick to my own section in future.

Thanks for the info Dave I will go looking for some pictures.

[Chris_C]

The 360s have a lot less issues with the drivetrain than 340s Steve, 2.3T's with the 360 torque tube set up arn't ten a penny, but not rare either.

The problem starts to become a coupling piece in the TT line. If you were wanting to do the M90 swap you'd want to be looking hard at the bulkhead, there isn't much clearance there at all. Rear starts to look interesting, the axle pickup points are designed for the de dion setup so you'd need to fabricate a chunk there too.